Country Kids Preschool & Childcare

No notice of a temp teacher for first 2 weeks Did not honor agreement regarding nap timeFed my son food from dirty floorWill not send me statement* We moved from out of state, a difficult adjustment for any 4 year old (like my son). We hired Country Kids as our son's preschool. The owner ([redacted]) said he would be in in her class. We went to drop him off for his 1st day and found out that his teacher ([redacted]) was going to be gone the 1st two weeks my son attended the school. Had that been disclosed to us prior to admittance, we would have waited the 2 weeks until his actual teach was going to be there. So my son got used to the temporary teacher for those to weeks and then was thrown a curve ball and had to re-adjust to his new/permanent teacher after that. This is a great deal of change for a little boy who just went through a big move. I feel [redacted] did not disclose to us that she was going to be gone those 2 weeks because she cared more about getting the money then she did about our son's well being and adjusting well to his new environment. *Prior or admitting my son, I informed [redacted] that my son was phasing out of taking naps. She assured me that the children were not forced to take naps. However, my son was forced to "lay down" and stay silent for 2 hours each day. This is not possible for any 4 yer old little boy with lots of energy who is no longer taking naps on a regular basis. To make him stay silent and lay still while awake for 2 hours was setting him up for failure and I was lied to about how nap time would be handled. * My son informed me that some of his lunch had dropped on the floor. The teacher rinsed it off (with only water..which does not kill germs) and gave it to him soggy and had him eat it! This is very unsanitary and probably why he got sick a few days later. Food that falls on a floor, should never be served to anyone! Not at preschool, a restaurant, or any other business! I am assuming this is a health code violation.* I asked [redacted] twice (via email) to please send me a client statement. I have now sent 2 requests and [redacted] has not sent me a statement. Any client that asks for a receipt for any money paid should be able to easily get one from a business. Desired SettlementI would like a client statement showing all money I paid to Country Kids, including deposits, fees, tuition, etc... I would like the statement to have the company's state and federal tax ID #'s noted. I should not have to wait until 2017 to get this information. Business Response Prior to enrolling her child into our facility, a tour was arranged. My expectations and regulations were discussed and this parent was given a copy of my policies. She understood that there was an opening after our preschool graduation. She was told that the school year ended June 10 and that we remained open through the Summer, focusing more on social/emotional growth, play & discovery while we transitioned graduates out of our program and enrolled new families. She understood that the new school year would begin Aug.29 and that I would be his teacher along with 2 co-teachers. She returned the signed policy and necessary forms. She needed childcare right away because she had job interviews to attend. Her son was enrolled June 13 to July 25. Her reason for leaving: she had not been hired. She seemed pleased with Country Kids while her son was enrolled. I can provide all emails that transpired between us. I can also provide documentation of my policies that she signed. She was always cordial with me until I reminded her of the two week written notice of her son's last day. I gave her extra time to get the check to me and did not charge her a late fee. As for her complaints, I do not have any temporary teachers at Country Kids. I can provide documentation if needed. As the business owner, I am only required by the state of NC to work 20 hours a week but I choose to work 40 during the school year because I truly love teaching. I never took a 2 week vacation. I did take off one week but the other 2 co-teachers were present everyday with the 10 children in the classroom. I can provide the sign-in/out sheet that shows her son's arrival and departure time: usually arriving around 7:45 and departing between 4:30 and 5:30. I can also provide documentation of my work hours that show I arrived after him, working 8-4p.m. Nap time is also covered in our policy. When her son first started, he was given books to look through during nap. Then, we discussed trying puzzles but we never had to try them because he began falling asleep right away....actually one of the first ones to fall asleep! This mother thanked me in an email for my kindness, flexibility and genuine care. She never once had a complaint until I asked for the two week written notice. As for the food complaint, we never allow children to eat off the floor. My staff and I follow all regulations. We have a sanitation grade of superior. Also, I did not refuse to send her a statement with my tax id number. I can provide the email that explained to her my accountant will mail all that information out in January. I am required to get that information to my customers by January 31 each year. She wrote checks so she has receipt of the tuition and fees paid to Country Kids.Consumer Response The resolution I requested is that we be sent a statement of account showing all payments we made to Country Kids. It is clear from [redacted] response that she does not plan to send us that statement until 2017, so I do not consider this issue resolved. Any client asking for a receipt for money paid should be able to easily get one. I am honestly shocked that she refuses to send a statement to me. Additionally, [redacted] response addresses things that I did not even bring up in my complaint. In our original complaint, I did not include the fact that we paid for 2 weeks of childcare and chose not to bring our son for those two weeks because we were so displeased with their service. We paid her and honored our agreement, so I am not really sure what she is counter-complaining about on that issue.I was always cordial to her and her staff because they were responsible for our son each day. We did not want our son to face retaliation for us expressing concerns to the staff. I can also send emails that show after I withdrew my son from her school, we did express our concerns in writing. She never responded to our emailed inquiry about our son being fed food from the floor. She ignored that email! My son did not lie about that. We discovered he was fed food from the floor one night when we were having dinner. A piece of food fell on the floor and our son picked it up and ran it to the bathroom to rinse it off. When we stopped him and asked him what he was doing and where he learned that, he then explained it was what his teacher did at Country Kids with his lunch that had fallen on the floor. He also said it was fed to him "soggy" and he did not like it. This was truly the last straw and when we decided our son was not going to go back to that school. Furthermore, the temporary/co-teacher was present for the 2 weeks of her vacation and then I never saw her in the classroom again. [redacted] can call her a co-teacher...but in all reality it was a teacher that my son only got to know for those 2 weeks and then he DID have to re-adjust to his permanent teacher. Calling her a co-teacher does not make the situation any different. She was temporary in every sense of the word and situation from our point of view. And [redacted] never told us that she was going on vacation for the first few weeks our son was going to attend her school. Had we been informed in advance, we would have postponed our enrollment date to when his "actual" teacher would be present. I feel she knew that was likely, so she purposely did not inform us of her vacation because she did not want to loose out on tuition for those two weeks!Lastly, I originally told her that we were withdrawing our son because it was not a good "fit" and because we found a lesser expensive not-for-profit school for him to attend. There were many reasons we decided to withdraw him, our displeasure with their service was 1st and foremost! However, I did mention that part of the reason was financial. This was discussed with her when my son was still attending her school. Again, I did not want to "complain" to her about a laundry list of issues we had with her organization for fear that our son would be retaliated against while still going to her school. I did express our other concerns once we had withdrew him. Had we been pleased with their service, we would not have withdrawn him. Finances were last on the list of reasons for the withdrawal.